Shopping by Skin Type-Normal Skin

As normal/balanced skin types aren’t dealing with dryness or struggling with sebum, the goal is maintenance over correction. Since this skin type doesn’t need to battle any current issues, a bigger emphasis can be placed on preventing sun damage and signs of aging whilst maintaining healthy hydration levels.

Normal/balanced skin can enjoy almost any sort of product, although thicker formulations geared towards drier types can be too heavy. The main rule is to avoid using products meant for skin issues you don’t struggle with.

Normal/balanced skin types are ideal for starting the use of actives to help achieve more “refining-type” skin goals (like reducing pore size, correct tone, etc) as the skin’s moisture barrier is functioning at its best. Actives are easier to use when symptoms like flakiness, dryness, and sensitivity aren’t ongoing issues. I don’t recommend actives for un-managed oilier types because sometimes excess oiliness instead of dryness can occur with their use.

Often, products designed for combination skin types will be compatible with balanced/normal skin types.

Actives: Depending on what you are trying to treat, you’re actives routine will differ. Generically, I’d recommend any of CosRX’s special treatments for whiteheads, blackheads, etc (here is a link to CosRX products at Memebox) or, IF AND ONLY IF you can stand the smell, there is Papa Recipe’s White Flower Clear Up 8% AHA Gel. It works, but smells even worse than typical AHA/BHA behind-to me, rotting fish, to others everything from day-old trash to an entire garbage dump. Results vs experience…I’ll let you be the judge.

Moisture: I would be committing a K beauty sin if I didn’t mention the Missha Time Revolution First Treatment Essence at least once. It’s a cult-classic. For normal skin, something like the Its Skin Power 10 Line has plenty of options for treating what concerns you may have while still keeping your skin moisturized, but not weighed down. For more bounce and brightness, I wholeheartedly recommend Etude House’s Moistfull Collagen line. I received a sample kit from a while back and truly fell in love with the results. My skin was so bouncy and elastic and, well, non-vampire looking (its default state for those of you who don’t know). What is even better is that you can try out a smaller sized kit before committing to full sizes.

Another product I’ve recently fallen in love with is the Innisfree Broccoli Clearing Lotion. While *technically* this is a product meant for acne, it has a lovely summery scent and is so light yet nourishing to the skin. It also has been wonderful for soothing redness. It would probably make a great finishing step to your routine!
As I said earlier, normal skin can honestly get away with quite a bit. The key is to err on the lighter side of things to not bog your skin down with moisture it doesn’t need. Stick to treating only the issues you need to treat and avoid the ones you don’t (like dryness or dehydration). So my best advice is to use this list as a springboard for finding what works best for you.

Thank you for reading you wonderful readers!

Btw: I’m not giving sunscreen recommendations in these sample routines as I feel that that is such a personal preference based thing. I like mine to be in an essence-like form like a moisturizer, but you may not…plus I’m in love with pretty much the two same sunscreens and don’t want it to become like the low pH cleanser haha! I refuse to branch out on some things. I’ll be doing a lot of research on reviews of various sunscreens so I can at least recommend some different things for my aging skin concern post in a few weeks…if you have any recommendations, let me know! You know the drill 😉

*please remember I am not a doctor, these are not affiliate links, and I would never recommend a product I would not use myself.